Most species of seagulls are migratory birds. They change locations based on temperature, breeding seasons, and food scarcity. Two organizations, LifeWatch and Flanders Marine Institute, worked together to collect data on the flight’s of gulls. They attached lighweight, solar powered GPS devices to the bird’s ankles that record several data points. For more information, visit their site by clicking here. The data spans from August 2013 to April 2014 and covers many countries. This broad range of information allows us to ask some key questions. Do seagull’s travel together when migrating or do their flight patterns differ? As for the flight itself, what is a common speed and altitude for traveling seagull’s?
In this dataset, the altitude is measured in feet. In order to observe altitude trends, we will be comparing Eric’s altitudes during the first week of January and the first week of March. It is important to observe only one bird so that we have a constant.
Eric’s altitude during the first week of January was between -246 ft and 92 ft. His flight pattern shows that he flies at a low altitude when he heads towards a destination at sea. He then returns to land at a higher flight altitude. This makes sense because sea levels are lower than land and there are less obstacles to fly over. His altitude patterns may be a tool to conserve energy.